Episode 20 - Interview with Liz Kislik
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Liz Kislik is a management consultant and executive coach, and a frequent contributor to Harvard Business Review and Forbes. Her TEDx “Why There’s So Much Conflict at Work and What You Can Do to Fix It” has been viewed more than 200,000 times.
She specializes in developing high performing leaders and workforces, and for 30 years has helped family-run businesses, national nonprofits, and Fortune 500 companies like American Express, Girl Scouts, Staples, Janssen Pharmaceuticals, and Highlights for Children solve their thorniest problems.
In this episode, we talk about digging into the roots of conflicts in the workplace and how to resolve them through respect and consideration among team members. She emphasizes the importance of communications training in the workplace so that people can deal with real problems, such as stereotypes, historical or cultural assumptions and other, sometimes more complicated issues.
Citing her article on Harvard Business Review “The Problem with Using I statements at Work”, she says that - “Feelings are very crucial in personal or family relationships, but work is actually different...Work is really about effectiveness,”
Liz believes that during the hard times, we are at risk of developing tunnel vision, not taking into account all the aspects of a situation. She says it’s crucial for leaders to look at the larger picture and the people in it by asking those two major questions: What are the big goals? What do my people need in order to achieve those goals?
A proponent of self-compassion, Liz believes kindness is an actual tool of leadership. She says as a leader, if you are not operating out of your best self, it is very hard for your people to give their best. Among her advice to leaders on how to take care of themselves is to give attention to beauty and pleasure on their own. She says immersing yourself in something you find beautiful and feeling good can help bring you back to yourself and get out of the tunnel.
Find out more about Liz on her website: https://lizkislik.com/